How to understand your teenager’s brain

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Science has disproved the theory that hormones cause teenagers to be moody. So what is the trigger?Sigrid Olsson / Getty

Professor Dan Siegel

Last updated at 12:01AM, March 1 2014

It’s not hormones that make them moody and impulsive. A new book by psychiatrist Professor Dan Siegel explains the science of adolescence and how parents can best manage their teens

Difficult teenage behaviour has traditionally been blamed on hormones. But a
leading clinical psychiatrist is arguing that this is not true. Instead,
Professor Dan Siegel believes it is profound changes in the brains of
teenagers, changes that continue until the age of 24, that are responsible.
Siegel, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California,
Los Angeles, who also runs psychotherapy clinics for families, has brought
up two teenagers of his own, now aged 20 and 24. In a new book delving into
the mysteries of the teenage brain, he explains the physical changes that
have such big repercussions,